Euro 2020 soccer for dummies

Next week I will probably be completely shouting in orange and will know all the players by heart, but for now the European Championship football is still a big blur for me. Recently, I had to ask my beloved with red cheeks of shame in which country it was actually held. red-cheeked from shame I had to ask my beloved in which country it was actually held. Answer: everywhere and thus nowhere. Due to corona, we are spreading out all over Europe. Anyway, something tells me that you haven't been obsessively occupied with the lineup and whether we are going to play four-four-two or four-three-three, so I thought: I'll make a little fact list.

1. It starts on Friday
Right away with a nice cracker namely Italy against Turkey in the magical Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

2. Italy is deeply aggrieved because they (just like the Netherlands by the way) did not participate in the World Cup in 2018 and that was for the first time since 1958.

3. Out of shock, the Italians immediately won all ten qualifying matches.

4. We can't quite say that.

5. On Sunday at 15:00 it will probably be quiet on the streets and if you don't like football, you can enjoy a drink in peace without having to reserve. Then England plays against Croatia in Wembley Stadium in London.

6. It's a cracker because England and Croatia also played against each other in the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2018.

7. Where we were not present...

8. And Italy wasn't either.

9. England and France are considered the big favorites by the way.

10. We play against Ukraine on Sunday evening at 21:00. Well in our own ArenA, hopefully that helps.

11. The idea of a European Championship in football was conceived in 1927 by Henri Delaunay, but due to World War II, it only came to fruition in 1960.

12. ‘We’, at least the Dutch national team, won the European Championship in 1988 (did you know!) and reached the finals of the World Cup three times.

13. European Championships and World Cups are always in even years, right? Yes, but we skipped a year... Because of you-know-what, the name we are no longer going to mention.

Guys, I'm actually getting excited. Chill the beer, hang out the flag, it's time for a party.